Gazan rockets and not Israeli missiles on Monday afternoon hit a playground in a Gaza City refugee camp and a building inside the compound housing its largest hospital, the IDF said.

Palestinian sources reported several people killed in the late-afternoon strikes, many of them children.

The IDF said the blasts were caused by Islamic Jihad terrorists who had misfired large missiles.

“A short while ago, terrorists in Gaza fired rockets at Israel. One of them hit Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza. The other hit Al-Shati refugee camp,” read a tweet by the IDF Spokesperson.

AFP had initially reported that seven children were killed when an Israeli missile slammed into the playground, citing a Palestinian doctor at the city’s main hospital.

The missile was said to have struck a group of children running around at a public playground in the beachfront Shati refugee camp.

A short while later, a missile struck a building inside the compound housing Gaza’s largest hospital on Monday, Hamas medics and an AFP correspondent said.

An AFP correspondent at the scene said a wall of a building inside the compound was damaged by a missile, which he said was fired by an Israeli drone.

However, the IDF denied that Israel was responsible for either attack, placing the blame on Gazan terrorists.

https://twitter.com/IDFSpokesperson/status/493775924714692608

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Israel was responsible and vowed revenge. “The massacre of the children in the Shati refugee camp is a war crime and a result of international silence. Our spirits will not break, and the occupation will pay the price,” he said, according to Israel Radio.

In a statement issued shortly before the strike, the World Health Organization said it was “appalled” by the number of strikes on healthcare facilities and personnel.

“The World Health Organization has been appalled by the continuing trend for healthcare facilities, staff and vehicles to come under direct fire in Gaza since the escalation of violence on 8 July 2014,” a statement from the Geneva-based body said.

“It is vital for health facilities and staff to be able to perform their life-saving work without fear of attack,” it said, recalling that all parties are obliged under international humanitarian law “to “protect medical services.”

Statistics published by OCHA, the UN humanitarian agency, show that some 22 hospitals, clinics and medical centers have been hit and damaged by Israeli shelling since Operation Protective Edge began on July 8.

Both the OCHA statistics and the WHO statement do not address Israel’s claim that it has been able to identify rocket and other fire coming from the facilities, indicating the presence of fighters and ammunition there.

Israel accuses Hamas of using human shields, including in hospitals, to deter the IDF from attacking terror-related targets. When striking such sensitive targets, the IDF takes precautions to avoid civilian casualties, such as warning medical staff to evacuate civilians from the premises before striking them."

Tuesday July 29, 2014, 3:06 pm
If it had been the Israelis who fired on the camp and hospital, I would not have blamed them for targeting these places. While ever the muslim terrorist filth (hamas), keep attacking and murdering Israel's people with their suicide bombs, missiles, etc., the Israelis have EVERY RIGHT to retaliate.
If the cowardly terrorists did not hide and fire their weapons and rockets from schools, hospitals, refugee camps and areas heavily populated by supposedly ?? innocent civilians, there would be far less casualties among palestinian men, women and children, as the Israeli military forces would have no reason to target those places.
In the absence of an effective legitimate palestinian government, the people have the power in their own hands to STOP the bloodshed immediately. All they need to do is round up and destroy the terrorist thugs and their weapons and the Israelis will have no reason or need to attack them.

Tuesday July 29, 2014, 4:12 pm
IDF has about a thousand times more credibility than Hamas. Even Arab leaders from several countries are blaming Hamas. Now you know Hamas is royally screwing it up when Arab leaders are disgusted with them. Hamas is psychotic regardless.

Tuesday July 29, 2014, 11:33 pm
JCPA convened several calls last week in response to the ongoing crisis in Gaza

First, CRC professionals came together with the JCPA and IAN staff in a conference call to discuss the situation on the ground and their communities’ actions to stand with Israel. The call provided a valuable opportunity to brainstorm, clarify our community positions, and acknowledge successes and challenges. Rabbi Steve Gutow, President and CEO of the JCPA, kicked off the call, explaining that the current challenge is twofold: creating soft messages reflecting our collective concern about the death toll on both sides while simultaneously taking a strong stance against Hamas and its tactics. He also stressed the importance of solidarity within the Jewish community. To that end, JCPA is working with partners to arrange a “fly-in” to Washington for the national Jewish community leadership. Discussion focused on how to translate our messages to the non-Jewish community, and how—and whether— to create local solidarity events and to respond to local anti-Israel events.

Wednesday, July 23, interfaith and intergroup leaders from around the country participated in a conference call featuring Dr. Tal Becker, a leading Israeli scholar on issues surrounding the current conflict. Dr. Becker is a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute and a senior member of the Israeli peace negotiation team. He serves as Principal Deputy Legal Adviser at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and works at the forefront of many of Israel’s most pressing diplomatic, legal, and policy challenges. He was a lead negotiator in the Annapolis peace talks, and he served as the Vice-Chairman of the United Nations General Assembly’s Legal Committee. He is the author of Terrorism and the State: Rethinking the Rules of State Responsibility, which won the Guggenheim Prize for best international law book. Dr. Becker holds a doctorate from Columbia University, and lectures widely throughout the world.

Dr. Becker contextualized the current conflict as the result of two traumatized peoples; traumatized by their pasts and scared for their unknown futures. He described disheartening poll results finding that while 70% of Israelis support a two-state, peaceful solution, 80% do not believe it will actually happen. An “Iron Dome mentality,” wherein security is a priority over solutions, prevails in the governance as well as in the field. Instead, the goal should be to empower those who want peace and disempower radical fundamentalists on both sides that only want to foment violence.

Hamas has engaged in war crimes by not only intentionally targeting Israeli civilians, but also using Palestinians as human shields. Hamas has stored missiles in hospitals, schools, and around civilian homes, creating a moral dilemma for Israel. If Israel attacks these places where the missiles are held, they risk harming Palestinian innocents. If they do not take action to destroy the missiles that Hamas uses to harm Israelis, the Israeli government is putting its own civilians at risk. Israel is trying to find a proportional response that entails using the minimum amount of force needed to neutralize the threats. While Hamas missiles used to come from Iran and Libya via underground tunnels connecting to Egypt, due to the recent destruction of these tunnels by Egypt’s new government, many rockets are now made in Gaza. Materials sent to Gaza to help with economic development for the Palestinian people, such as concrete and pipes, have been appropriated by Hamas to create weapons and build tunnels. Even after a cease-fire, the prospect of aid materials being misused is still likely to be a concern.

Dr. Becker sees a major barrier to peace in the demonization that has taken place on both sides of the conflict, and he notes that the BDS movement exacerbates that negativity. He yearns for positive Palestinian heroes who can inspire a vision for a more prosperous and functional Palestinian state. Tactics that are not black and white, do not assign blame, and are motivated by a desire for lasting peace will ultimately “take the poison out” of this recurring, devastating conflict.

Wednesday July 30, 2014, 8:38 am
I wonder if the people who believe the now Sunni terrorists who are protecting their mortal enemies from their mortal enemies and can do no wrong (and not wanting to insult, I won't mention that they apparently can't hit the broad side of a barn though), and everything is just a pack of Jewish lies, would enjoy living in Iran, Syria, or say Iraq on this lovely 30th day of July?
*Choose your enemies carefully.*

In Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and other countries, Sunni Muslims torture, rape, steal from, cut heads off Shia Muslims and Christians. They do this because Islamic law URGES Muslims to hate, steal from, torture, terrorize, rape, take slaves from "the other" "wrong" sect or religion.

To many Sunnis, Shia Islam is not Islam at all, so therefore Shiites are not even considered Muslims. The reverse is true for the way Shiites and Sunnis treat the other. So you can find many, many photos taken in the past few months of one group holding the cut off heads of the other. Christians are being crucified, because the are considered inferior by Islam's definitions and standards.

These conflicts have been going on since the advent of Islam. This jihad against Jews is under the magnifying glass, even while Muslim on Muslim violence has taken a thousand times more victims than anything Israel can do, yet to the world it does not matter. In fact, tens of thousands have been killed by other Muslims, but their deaths appear to hardly be mentioned in most newspapers, because after all, they weren't killed by Israelis, just by the brethren, which seems to be okay.

The hypocrisy is outrageous and widespread.

Hamas is essentially no different than ISIS, Al Qaeda, Muslim Brotherhood, even Hezbollah (although a different sect from Hamas) and almost uncountable other Islamist groups. They are all out for world domination, mass murder is absolutely fine in their calculations, because the Qur'an says so, and the Hadiths tells us that the perfect man, Muhammad, did so.

Jews/Israelis are virtually always the canary in the coal mine and the seemingly eternal scapegoat. Christians are already disappearing from the Middle East and North Africa, which before the advent of Islam was vast majority Christian.

Working against Israel is working against democracy and freedom that is very threatened in an increasing number of places. Israel, for many reasons, deserves our support. We, in not such a long time-frame, are next.

Tuesday August 5, 2014, 7:32 pm
a lot of the people responding here end up calling each other liars. we are none of us there on the ground - lucky us - and even if we were we'd have little chance of knowing what's going on. we rely on the media, on journalists, and base our opinions on how reliable we believe they are.
i believe hamas is a terrorist organisation with no thought for the lives or wellbeing of the people of gaza. i also believe they are having a great time manipulating the media, and scratching the surface of too many people whose anti-semitism is just below the surface.